Emil Bührle Collection

Judith Gérard (et al.)

Copy after Van Gogh’s Self-Portrait for Gauguin, 1897/98

Reworked with fraudulent intent

1897/98

Oil on canvas

61 x 50 cm

Vergrössern

Drucken

Provenance

1Judith Gérard 1897/98–1902 Gaston Poulain, «Une femme-peintre, Mme Judith Gérard, nous déclare être l’auteur du célèbre Van Gogh le ‹Portrait de l’Artiste aux Fleurs’», in Comœdia (25) 10 December 1931.

2Amédée Schuffenecker Meudon • 1902 Poulin, as above, n. (1).

3Eugène Druet Paris • ca. 1911 Poulin, as above, n. (1); the report given by Poulin is corroborrated by a label of the Druet Gallery in Paris on the stretcher of the canvas.

4Paul von Mendelssohn-Bartholdy Berlin • ca. 1911 until [d.] 1935 Jacob-Baart de la Faille, L’Œuvre de Vincent van Gogh, Catalogue raisonné, Paris & Brussels 1928, vol. 1, Tableaux, textes, no. 530.

5Elsa von Mendelssohn-Bartholdy/Kesselstatt Berlin & Vaduz • 1935–1948 Widow of the above.

6Emil Bührle Zurich • 30 June 1948 until [d.] 28 November 1956 Acquired from the above in Zurich on 30 June 1948 for CHF 80’000 + $ 25’000, AStEGB, Statement of Claim, put forward at the District Court of Zurich by Emil Bührle against Countess Elsa Kesselstatt, 19 January 1954.

7The descendants of Emil Bührle  Zurich • 1956 – 2014 In spite of a letter from John Rewald who confirmed in writing that he had personally interviewed Judith Gérard in Paris in 1947 or 1948, and that she had endorsed the article published by Gaston Poulain in 1931 (as above, n. [1]), the case was finally settled out of court, and the painting remained with the descendants of Emil Bührle who could not claim back the money Emil Bührle had paid for Judith Gérard’s reworked copy (AStEGB, Letter from John Rewald, New York, to Emil Bührle, 13 October 1954; Letter from Charlotte Bührle to Dr. Hermann Ganz, Zurich, 11 February 1958). For a detailed account regarding Bührle’s acquisition of the manipulated copy after van Gogh’s Self-Portrait for Paul Gauguin see Lukas Gloor, «Emil Bührle: A Twentieth-Century Modern Art Collection», in The Emil Bührle Collection, History, Full Catalogue, and 70 Masterpieces, Swiss Institute for Art Research, Zurich (ed.), Munich 2021, pp. 106–109.

8Given by the descendants of Emil Bührle to the Foundation E.G. Bührle Collection 2015 Inv. 174.     

AStEGB = Archive of the Foundation E.G. Bührle Collection, Zurich

Exhibitions

1910Van Gogh Galerie Eugène Druet • Paris • 1910 (?).

1950Europäische Kunst 13.–20. Jahrhundert aus Zürcher Sammlungen Kunsthaus Zürich • 1950 p. 28.

2005Van Gogh echt falsch, Zwei Selbstbildnisse der Sammlung Emil Bührle Stiftung Sammlung E.G. Bührle • Zürich • 2005–06 no cat. no.

2010Van Gogh, Cézanne, Monet, Die Sammlung Bührle zu Gast im Kunsthaus Zürich Kunsthaus Zurich • 2010 no cat.no.

2017Chefs-d’oeuvre de la collection Bührle, Manet, Cézanne, Monet, Van Gogh… Fondation de l’Hermitage • Lausanne • 2017 no cat. no.

2019Making Van Gogh, Geschichte einer deutschen Liebe, Städel Museum • Frankfurt M. • 2019–20 no cat. no.

References

1913Albert Dreyfus «Vincent van Gogh» in Die Kunst für Alle (29) • 1913 • p. 97 (ill.).

1919Max Deri Die Malerei im XIX. Jahrhundert  Berlin • 1919 • vol. 1, p. 231, vol. 2, plate 61.

1928Jacob-Baart de la Faille L’Œuvre de Vincent van Gogh, Catalogue raisonné  Paris & Brussels • 1928 • vol. 1, Tableaux, texte, no. 530; vol. 2, Tableaux, planches, fig. 145.

1939Jacob-Baart de la Faille Vincent van Gogh  Paris • 1939 • no. 508 (ill.).

1943A. M. Rosset Van Gogh  Paris • 1941 • fig. 63.

1946Louis Hautecœur Van Gogh  Monaco & Geneva • 1946 • p. 144, plate 80.

1947Germain Bazin L’Epoque impressionniste  Paris • 1947 • p. 74 (ill.).

1948Louis Piérard Das tragische Schicksal des Vincent van Gogh  Zurich • 1948 • p. 41 (ill.).

1963Fritz Erpel Die Selbstbildnisse Vincent van Goghs  Berlin • 1963 • no. 36 (ill.).

2005Lukas Gloor «Eine erfolgreiche Fälschung und ihre Faszination für einen Sammler» in Van Gogh echt falsch, Zwei Selbstbildnisse der Sammlung Emil Bührle (exh. cat.) • Stiftung Sammlung E.G. Bührle • Zürich • 2005–06 • pp. 22–27.

2017Lukas Gloor «Emil Bührle: l’apprentissage d’un collectionneur» in Chefs-d’oeuvre de la collection Bührle, Manet, Cézanne, Monet, Van Gogh…, (exh. cat.) • Fondation de l’Hermitage • Lausanne • 2017 • pp. 12–40.

2021Lukas Gloor «The Holdings of the Emil Bührle Collection: Illustrated List of All 633 Purchases» in The Emil Bührle Collection: History, Full Catalogue and 70 Masterpieces Swiss Institute for Art Research, Zurich (ed.) • Munich • 2021, no. 158 (ill.).

2021Martin Bailey Van Gogh’s Finale, Auvers & The Artist’s Rise to Fame London • 2021, p. 224, n. 23.